First, the news. Magnus Cort Nielsen did not pass through the Côte de Cap Blanc-Nez first. The race, with 11 km to go from the finish line in Calais, had just been launched by the Jumbo like a locomotive with a runaway Wout van Aert, who was the one who crowned and who destroyed the peloton in just 900 meters of ascent. He didn’t need more. With a small incline he had enough in the yellow jersey to blow up the sprinters and go solo to the end with an exquisite ride.
Now the routine. The Dane, with his red dotted jersey, escaped again for the third consecutive day. As soon as the flag of the launched start was given, the leader of the mountain stuck to the wheel of Anthony Perez, the Frenchman from Cofidis, the other adventurer. There was no one who tried to leave with them. No one fought to get hooked on the good leak. Nobody else wanted to be the protagonist. The boredom that has permeated this start of the Tour was repeated. Court is the only one. He really is running wanting to do something different. His prize, more than deserved, was to add nine first places in the first nine climbs of the Tour, beating a pure and mythical climber like Bahamontes.
The rest, quiet, boring the sheep, the viewers, who were already dissatisfied with a bland Giro. The favorites, discounting the days. Awaiting, for better or worse, the arrival of Pavés, this Wednesday, surely the first key stage for those who want to win the French round.
Lastly, the exhibit. All the monotony and languor was blown away with Van Aert’s brutal attack. All the peace is gone. A scoring tack became a perfect setting for Team Jumbo’s catapult, which set up a textbook ambush.
Tired of three days being second, seeing how they surpassed him from one side to the other, staying with honey on his lips. Van Aert was angry. The modern Hercules took action on the matter. And how. He let everyone down. To the sprinters, yes. Dropping the Jakobsen and Groenewegen, who had beaten him in Denmark, was his goal. But also to those called to be on the podium in Paris. For the first time the strong men of the race were required. They had to show their faces because Van Aert demanded a lot of them. Everyone’s legs ached and gave way.
“It was obvious that we were trying to do something with the team because we were in an unbeatable position in the peloton”, revealed the leader of the race, more leader with the advantage and the bonus as winner.
Jumbo did not need to use and force their cracks either. When he entered the hill, Van Hooydonck set a devilish pace. He took over from Benoot, always with Van Aert soldier. Behind them, the platoon was falling apart. There they caught Perez. When the yellow jersey started, only Adam Yates and Jonas Vingegaard remained at his wheel, the two favorites who best responded to Van Aert’s explosiveness. For not too long. They both opened up, concluded that this was not their war.
“When Tiesj (Bennot) took over, we saw that we were doing damage. I have reached the top. Then I had doubts about whether to wait for Jonas, but also Adam Yates. So I have decided to continue alone”, explained the winner at the finish line.
There were those who doubted whether the Belgian, capable of winning on all terrains, had settled in, if his plan to help Roglic and Vingegaard win the Tour had made a dent in his power. In short, after seeing him with the face of a loser in Denmark, if he was more dove than sparrowhawk. They already have the answer. In celebration of him Van Aert entered imitating the flight of a large and graceful bird. “What an engine Wout has! When he leaves we know that no one can follow him ”, acknowledged his companion Primoz Roglic, who would have liked to be able to accompany him and surprise Pogacar. Calais is his seventh victory on the Tour, where he has won in the last four editions. Van Aert is very good and, when he is injured, he is even more dangerous. It is a bird? It is a plane? Is it Superman? It is Wout van Aert.
